Everything about Didactics

MOTIVATION

Is some kind of internal drive which pushes someone to do things in order

to achieve something. Is a state of cognitive arousal which provoques a
decision to act, as a result of which there is a sustained intellectual and
/ or physical effort so that the person can achieve some previously set goal
Cognitive Definition:

While rewards are very much a part of the whole picture . For cognitivists
the different lies in the sources of motivation and in the power of self
rewards.
Behavioristic Definition:
The anticipation of reinforcement
According to Skinner people will pursue a goal because their perceive a reward for
doing so. This reward serves to reinforce behavior to cause it to persist.

INTRINSIC MOTIVATION:
It is what comes from the individual. Thus a person might be motivated by
the enjoyment of the learning process itself of by the desire to make him/
herself feel better.

EXTRINSIC MOTIVATION:
It is the result of any number of outside factors, for example the hope of
financial reward or the possibility of future travel.

INTEGRATIVE MOTIVATION:
It is when students want to learn a language they want to become part of a
speech community (integrate).
The language is used for social interaction. An example of this is when
people immigrate to another country.

INSTRUMENTAL MOTIVATION:
Is when the person has a practical reason for the study of the subject for
example: learn how to play an instrument in order to play in an orchestra.

LESSON PLANS GOLDEN RULES

Timing: setting the time and controlling it is very important.
Plan back-up activities: these activities can be useful in case you have some
extra time.
Set communicative, interactive activities.
Easy and clear follow
Learning style
Variety of activities
Contextualization
Good transition of activities
Students are the center of the class
Be flexible: it is not necessary to accomplish all the steps we included in
the planning. We can change what we do in the students benefits, planning
is a guide.
}

THE ANGEL OF MOTIVATION:

Is a remarkable statue in the north-east of England outside of the city of

Gateshead.
The statue provides us a metaphor of motivation, that is one of the aims of the
teachers, try to motivate students and generate enthusiasm to learn.
The angel needs to be built on the solid base of the extrinsic motivation that is
what student brings with them to class.

EXTRINSIC MOTIVATION:
Is the result of any number of outside factors for example the need of
pass an exam.

AFFECT
Is concerned with the students feelings, and here we as a teachers can
have a dramatic effect.

ACHIEVEMNT
Teachers should try to ensure that students are successful to stay
motivated to learn in a real sense of achievement. Part of our job is to set
an appropriate level of challenge for the students, we need to guide
students towards success.
ATTITUDE:
Students need to believe that we know what we are doing. They also feel
that we know about the subject we are teaching. When students have
confidence in the teacher, they are likely to remain engaged with was is
going on.

ACTIVITIES:

Our students motivation is fare more likely if they are doing things they
enjoy. We need to keep a constant eye on what they respond well an what
they feel less engaged with.

T
AGENCY
An agent is a person that does students need to take decisions and some
responsibility for their language.

MASLOW PYRAMID OF NEEDS

He was interested in learn what makes people happy and the things that they do
to achieve that aim.
this hierarchy suggests that people are motivated to fulfill basic needs before
moving on to other, more advanced needs.
Maslow was interested in learn what makes people happy and the things that they
do to achieve that aim. As a humanist, Maslow believed that people have an inborn
desire to be self-actualized, to be all they can be. In order to achieve the
ultimate goals, however, a number of more basic needs must be met first such as
the need for food, safety, love and self steam.
The lower levels of the pyramid are made up of the most basic needs, while the
more complex needs are located at the top of the pyramid.
Needs at the bottom of the pyramid are basic physical requirements including the
need for food, water, sleep and wormth
As people progress up the pyramid, needs become increasingly psychological and
social, soon the need for love, friendship and intimacy become important. Further
in the up the pyramid the need for personal steam and feelings of accomplishment
take priority.

Maslow emphasized the importance of self actualization, which is a process of

growing and developing as a person in order to achieve individual potential.

HOW TO TEACH GRAMMAR

INDUCTIVE
Particular to general
Implicit
Exposure to the language first
Rule discovery learning
Associative
Subconscious
Problem solving
Learned centered
Autonomous
Active participation

DEDUCTIVE
General to particular
Explicit rules first
Rule driven learning
Cognitive
Conscious
Application of rules
Teacher centered}
Dependent of the teacher
Passive reception

According to Jim Scrivener

P.P.P Presentation Practice Production
Guided Discovery
Self Directed Discovery

HOW TO TEACH VOCABULARY

Receptive and productive vocabulary

Mental lexicon
Retrieve vocabulary
PLANNING A VOCABULARY LESSON:
Activate students schemata
Introduction of vocabulary in context
Meaning and form pronunciation
Spelling
Register
Practice and Pronunciation.

LEXICAL APPROACH
The lexical approach is a method of teaching foreign languages described by Lewis
in 1990s.
An important part of learning a language consists of being able to understand and
produce lexical phrases as chunks. Students are thought to be able to perceive
patterns of language (grammar) as well as have meaningful set uses of words at
their disposal when they are taught in thiso way.
In lexical approach instructions focuses on fixed expressions that occur
frequently in dialogues.
Lexical approach is a method of teaching foreign languages.
LEXICAL CHUNKS:
Pollywords
Fixed expressions an only child
Fixed collocation hard work
Collocations
Institutionalized expressions eg If I were hou
Sentence heads of Farmers I see what t..ou mean, but
Difficult

HOW TO TEACH READING??

Reading is a multifaceted process involved word recognition, comprehension,

fluency and motivation.
Why should we teach Reading?
For students career
To study
For pleasure
While reading our students acquire the language
To improve writing: language, vocabulary, punctuation, sentence,
structure, paragraphs. All this is present when we read.

INTENSIVE READING
Reading under the teacher guidance
It provides a basis for explaining difficulties of structure and for
extending knowledge of vocabulary and idioms.
Generally at a slower speed
Requires a higher degree of understanding.

EXTENSIVE READING:
It develops independence according to the students ability
It is very good to help students to improve as a readers
Materials will be selected at a lower level of difficulty than for intensive
reading
Its attention is paid to the meaning of the text itself not the language. The
purpose of extensive reading is for pleasure and information. By this
reason, extensive reading is also known as supplementary reading

SKIMMING: (It gives the reader an idea of what the text is about)

To skim consists of quickly running ones eyes across a whole text for its
gist (essence)
This allows us to predict the purpose of the passage, the main topic, or
message and possibly some of the developing or supporting ideas
HOW TO SKIM:

Read the title

Read the introduction of the first paragraph
Read the first sentence of every other paragraph
Read any headings and sub headings
Notice any pictures, charts or graphs
Notice any italicized or boldface words or phrases
Read the summary or last paragraph.

SCANNING (Extract specific information without reading the whole text)

To scan consists of a quickly searching for some particular piece or pieces
of information in a text. It can be used to look for names, dates,
definitions etc. It is essential for academic English.
HOW TO SCAN:
State the specific information you are looking for. Try to anticipate how
the answer will appear and what clues you might use to help you locate the
answer. For example, if you were looking for a certain date, you would
quickly read the paragraph looking only for numbers.
Use headings and any other aids that will help you identify which sections
might contain the information you are looking for.
Selectively read and skip through sections the passage.

BOTTOM-UP PROCESSING:
Taking a stimulus from outside in order to comprehend a written text.
TOP DOWN PROCESSING:
It is the use of our previous knowledge and experiences in order to create
image of the text.

HOW TO TEACH LISTENING

Why teach listening?
It helps students to acquire language subconsciously even if teachers
do not draw their attention to special features.
Students get acquainted about pronunciation, rhythm, intonation,
pitch and stress
Students should be acquainted with the different pronunciations and
grammar
Students should get used to different types of English and not just to
the teachers English
BOTTOM-UP PROCESSING:
It is when we use the text itself to get meaning
We identify the sounds we hear and try to organize them as words,
phrases, grammatical sentences and intonation patterns to make
sense of the text

TOP-DOWN PROCESSING:
It means using knowledge and expectations that the listener already
has , to build meaning from a listening text.
It enables us to predict much of what the message is about.
It can always help us to process language quicker.
It is important to consider that by using top-down processing we can
get wrong information about the text.
GIST LISTENING
It is when we try to understand the general points rather than every
detail
Generally used when listen to stories or informal conversations.
Some tasks are:
Check the topic, match the topic to a picture, summarize/ paraphrase
the main points of the listening.
LISTENING FOR DETAILS:
Teacher gives the students the opportunity to listen to the record
more than once so they will be more exposed t the target language.
Each time students listen to the record they might build up a fuller
representation of it.

SELECTIVE LISTENING:
Students select specific information to focus on. They select the
information they want to know
Some tasks are:
Physical respond to command
Answer comprehension questions
Listen for missing dates, numbers, etc
The sequence of events
Note taking.
INTENSIVE LISTENING:
Listen to get information about something
It is important to give students the chance to listen to the extract
more than once.
The text is chosen previously and the tasks organized with
anticipation.
Some tasks are:
Write in missing words on partial transcript
Listen for parts of speech or verb-tense markers such as ed of s

EXTENSIVE LISTENING:
Listen to a long text for pleasure in order to improve language
It is important to keep students motivates by letting them choose the
extract they would like to listen to.
Some tasks are:
Listen to a song.
Listen to identify the topic
Listen and choose the best title.

LIVE LISTENING:
It is when listening happened during the class
It could be with a native speaker visit.
It could be a story told by the teacher
It could be a discussion of debate among the students
Some possible tasks are:
A phone call a native speaker
An interview to someone who is able to speak the target language
A discussion or a debate about a topic chosen by the students}
PRE-RECORDING LISTENING

It is designed for the classroom and provide the teachers with a value
resource
It generally lacks of noise and interferences
It happens in an ideal situation.
Some possible tasks are:
A TV talk show
A song
A film or video.

A LISTENING LESSON PLAN CONSISTS OF:

THE PRE LISTENING STAGE:
The activities teacher choose will help students activate
schemata and motivates them to listening
Activate existing knowledge
Build prior knowledge
Establish a purpose
Some possible activities are:
Agree / disagree statements
Discuss questions
Brainstorm on topic ideas or vocabulary
Discuss the personal experiences
THE WHILE LISTENING STAGE:
The Task should be appropriate for the purpose of the listening
Some possible activities are:
Filling the gaps
Repetition
Detecting differences
Ticking off items
Sequencing
Information search
MatchingTHE POST LISTENING STAGE
The tasks will helps students to build up an understanding of
what they have listened to and to consolidate their memory of
new ideas and new language.
Some possible tasks are:
Answering to show comprehension
Problem solving
Summarizing
Jigsaw listening
Debate / Discussion
Role play

HOW TO TEACH
PRONUNCIATION
WHY?
Change word meaning inhibit successful communication.
Affect students motivation and autonomy
TECHNINQUES:
DRILLS
Repetition
Substitution
Transformation
Chain
Backward build-up
Question and answer

WHEN TEACH PRONUNCIATION?

Whole lesson: encourage to devoted the hole lesson
Discrete slots: the teacher inserts short, separate bits of
pronunciation in to the lesson.
Integrated phases: the teacher gets students to focus on
pronunciation as an integral part of the lesson
Opportunistic: the teacher may stray from the original plan when it is
necessary

PHONETIC CHART
It is a tool to high differences between words
Useful for visual learners
Helps students to get autonomy
Shows the effect of connected speech.

HOW TO TEACH SPEAKING:

What is speaking?

Speaking is the delivery of language through the mouth. To speak we

create sounds using many parts of our body including the lungs. Vocal
tract, vocal chards, tongue, teeth and lips.
WHY TEACH SPEAKING?
Speaking is a crucial part of second language learning and teaching.
The mastery of speaking skills in English is a priority for many second
language or foreing language learners.

WHAT ARE THE ELEMENTS OF SPEAKING

Vocabulary
Grammar
Social language
Pronunciation
Listening comprehension
Fluency
Body language

HOW TO TEACH WRITING

WHAT IS WRITING?
Is a medium of human communication that represents language and
emotion through the inscription of recording of sings and symbols
In most languages writing is a complement to speech of spoken language.
WHY SHOULD WE TEACH?
For students future jobs
To communicate

To give students autonomy}

Reinforces the grammatical structure
There is an effort
Students take risks
Students put in to practice vocabulary and grammar.

PRODUCT WRITING
This is a traditional approach I which students are encouraged to
mimic a model text which is usually presented an analyzed at an
early stage.

PROCESS WRITING
Tend to focus more on the varied classroom activities which promote
the development of language use: brainstorming, group discussion,
re-writing.

WRITING ACTIVITIES
Book report
Book review
Personal story
Describe people
Answer a letter
Job application
Film review
New report.

MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES
Howard Gardner defines intelligences as an ability to solve problems or
crate products that are valued in at least one culture.
Linguistic Intelligence: allows individuals to communicate and make
sense of the world through language. Example: poets, students that
enjoy playing with thymes, who always have a story to tell, quickly
acquire other languages
Logical Mathematical: individuals to use and appreciate abstract
relations. Example: scientists, students who carefully analyze the
components of problems either personal of school related.
Musical Intelligence: allows people to create, communicate and
understand meaning made out sound. Example composers, and

instrumentalist and students who seem particularly attracted by birds

singing outside the classroom or who constantly tap out rhythms on
the desk with their pencils.
Spatial Visual Intelligence: people who perceive visual or spatial
information to transform this information, and to create visual images
from memory. Example architects, sculptors and engineers, students
who turn first to the graphs, charts and pictures in their text books.
Bodily kinesthetic intelligence: are those individuals who use all part
of the body to create products or solve problems. Example dancers,
choreographers, crafts, students who enjoy gym class and school
dances.
Intrapersonal intelligence: helps individuals to distinguish among their
own feelings, to build accurate mental models of themselves, and to
draw on these models to make decisions about their lives.
Naturalist intelligence: allows people to distinguish among, classify
and use features of the environment. Example farmers, gardeners,
botanist, geologist, florists etc
Existential: existential intelligence is the ability to understand
religious and spiritual ideals. They have a strong understanding of
things that are not visual to the eye but through faith and belief.
Existential was not one of the original intelligences
Emotional: is the ability to identify and manage your own emotions
and the emotion of others. It is generally said to include three skills
1- The ability to identify your own emotions and those of others
2- The ability to harness emotions and apply them to tasks like
thinking and problem solving
3- The ability to manage emotions including the ability to regulate
your own emotions and the ability to cheer up of calm dawn other
person. (Goleman

LEARNING STYLES
SKEHAN Defines learning styles as the characteristic manner in which an
individual chooses to approach a learning task.
VISUAL:
Rarely speak in the class of speak in as few words possible
Are very verbal in the mother tongue
Tend to follow the teacher with their eyes ad he or she moves around the
classroom
Find useful to underline or highlight information

Are very neat and organized

Reproduce information by visualizing the text page
Generally respond better to written teacher comments than to verbal
messages
TACTILE:
Need concrete experiences to process new information
Have difficulty learning abstract symbols of following cause and effect
sequences
Have very short attention span
They need to see and hear and physically do things in order to understand
Tend to be very chummy with the teacher and classmates
Need to move and get physical release through movement.

KINESTHETIC
Need to observe- reflect- do sequence in order to learn
Must move. They cannot sit still for normal periods of time
Are good at sports and physical tasks
Learn best with quite periods followed active ones
Like to do things with their hands
Are good splitters ( they take information apart and put it together)

AUDITORY
Always chatter, whisper, talk etc
The class clown
Like narratives, jokes and stories
Can repeat information given in a verbal way with high degree of accuracy
after only a few repetitions
Use rhythm and sound as memory aids
Are good leaders
Perform better in class than their test result indicate
See relationship of cause and effect very clear

COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITY
(MORROW)
1- CHOICE : * WHAT
HOW
2- Information Gap
3- Feedback

TYPES OF ACTIVITIES
1234-

MECHANICAL
MEANINGFUL
MEANINGFUL MECHANICAL
TASK

TYPES OF TASKS
Role-plays
Listing
Ordering and sorting
Comparing
Sharing personal experience
Problem solving
Creative tasks

CLASSIFICATION OF TASKS

CLOSED:

Specific goal

Inf and instructions

Structured
OPEN:
The outcome can be

Some specific language is

meant to be used e.g past
simple
UNFOCUSED

presented in different

Students can choose any

ways
Less structured

language to do the task

FOCUSED

Three times of practice

Semi controlled
Controlled
Free

WHAT IS A TASK
A task is an activity where the target language is used by the learner for a
communicative purpose in order to achieve a goal
The task stage is an opportunity for all learners to use whatever language
they can muster, working simultaneously, in pairs or small groups, to achieve
the goals of the tasks.

WHAT IS AN EXERCISE

An exercise usually has focus on a single language element and has a

linguistic outcome.
PRE TASK
Introduction to the topic and task
Teacher explores topic with the class, help students to understand
instructions and prepare
TASK CYCLE:
Task: Students do the task in pairs or small groups while teacher
monitors
Planning: Students prepare to report the whole class (oral or
written) how they did the task, and / or what they decided or
discovered
Report: Some groups present their reports to the class, or
exchange written reports and compare results.

LANGUAGE FOCUS
Analysis : Students examine and discuss specific features
Practice: Teacher conducts practice of new words, phrases, and
patterns that occur in the data.

TIME MANAGEMENT
Always set the time
Control the time
Use countdown remainders
Prepare the resources before
State the time on the lesson plan
Let students help you
Give clear explanations
Less is more

TEACHER MOVEMENTS

GENERAL RULES OF TEACHERS MOVEMENTS:

Necessary during the lesson
A very important aspect when teaching
Give students confidence and encourage them to work more energetically
Body is the best and more important tool that teacher has
Help to explain thing
Help to use less L1
An active teacher is more entertaining.

CONTROLLED PRACTICE:
In activities in which are controlled the teacher knows the answer,
questions or language which students will produce.
There is only one correct response. For example if the students were to
brainstorm occupations, then most students would compile lists which many
of the same job

SENTENCE COMPLETION
We can have our students make and complete sentences in number of
different ways

CURRICULUM
The curriculum is a public document developed by the school. It has cultural
content that is spread to the people that attend and work there.
It also expresses social agreements that must be transmitted to the new
generations

SYLLABUS

It is a document that functions as a guide which prescribes the objectives,

contents and actions that are necessary in order to develop the actual
curriculum
It includes aspects derivates from the curriculum like: the objective,
organization time and subjects of the career, general and specific objective
amount of hours of theory and practice of each subject and options and
requirements of the degree.
More specific
It is a guide
It includes:
1- Objectives, content, actions, skills, teaching point, thematic unit.

TEACHING FOR
UNDERSTANDING
Teaching for understanding can bring knowledge to life by requiring
students to manipulate knowledge in various ways}
To achieve deeper understanding, students should apply their
knowledge in different situations.
1. DRAW ON SCHEMA: they use the unique background knowledge to
understand as they read
TO UNDERSTAND
To use knowledge flexibly in order to solve daily situations
HOTS higer order thinking skills
Empathy to know how someone think, feels
To perceive the meaning of something
Explain something with your own words

DO IT, demonstration
To think and act with flexibility from what we can do.

HOW TO PLAN A TFU LESSON

UNDERSTANDING GOALS: The focus the exploration of
generative topics teachers can develop understanding goals
Generative topic: Connect readily to what is familiar to students,
and to other subject matter.
Engaging to students and to teachers
Accessible to students via multiple resources and ways of thinking.
PERFORMANCES OF UNDERSTANDING:
- Activities that both develop and demonstrate their current
understanding
- Initial performances would be rather simple, over the time the
performances of understanding in a given topic become
progressively more complex.
ONGOING ASSESSMENT
- In teaching of Understanding Framework performances of
understanding and students assessment go hand in hand whenever
possible. Rather than assessing outcomes primarily at the end of
the unit, teachers provide feedback, learning criteria and
opportunities for reflection throughout instruction
- Feedback from teachers, peers and self evaluation can help to
advance the students work, particularly when: Assessment
criteria are made public to students
- Feedback is provided on regular basis
- Students and teachers have ample opportunity to reflect on
students understanding and barriers that remain

AUTHENTIC MATERIAL
The authentic materials are resources that were created for native
speakers and not with the purpose of teaching language.
Example :
1- Songs
2- Videos
3- Newspapers
4- Tv programs
5- Magazines
6- Realia
7- Speeches
8- Advertisement
9- Notices
10-Menus
11-TV guides

INTEGRATION OF SKILLS
What does it mean?
The teaching of the language: skills of reading, writing, listening and
speaking in conjunction with each other as when a lesson involves activities
that relate listening and speaking to reading and writing.
Longman.
The four skills are:
Speaking : Productive skill
Writing : Productive skill

Listening: Receptive skill

Reading: Receptive skill

INTEGRATED SKILLS IN THE CLASSROOM

The integrated language lesson includes seven design principles:

1- Authenticity: A tape with authentic interaction.

2- Task continuity: Listening leads on the reading and discussion
3- Real world focus: The materials make an explicit link between the
classroom and the real world.
4- Language focus: Learners are encouraged to identify patterns and
regularities through discovery learning.
5- Learning focus: The tasks develop the skill of self-monitoring and
self-evaluation.
6- Language practice
7- Problem solving: Sts work in pairs of in small groups to facilitate
language acquisition.
ADVANTEGES OF INTEGRATION OF SKILLS
Exposes students to authentic language and promotes the learning of
real content.
Students will be more motivated to learn a language if they are able
to use it to interact and communicate
Allows teachers to monitor and track students progress in multiple
skills at the same time
Allows for growth in all main skill areas and the subsidiary skills.
The notion of appropiacy will be developed in learners
The integrated skill approach is highly motivating to students, since
it is a more realistic approach.

HOW TO INTEGRATE LANGUAGE SKILLS IN THE CLASSROOM

Listening and note-taking (using audio/video materials9
Using real conversations motivate our students. Also provides a
realistic context in which the activity of note-taking could take
place. Oral presentations, project work, role play/ simulation,
questionnaire project.

ASSESSMENT
FORMAL

INFORMAL

Oral Test
Achievement Test
Diagnostic test
Placement test
Heteroevaluation
Metaevaluation
Proficiency Test

Observation
Ongoing
Performance
Portfolios
Peer assessment
Self assessment

EVALUATION
It involves looking at all the factors that influence the learning
process such as syllabus, course designed, material, methodology,
performance and assessment
ASSESSMENT
It measures the performance of our students and the progress they
make
It provides useful feedback

TEST

PRINCIPLES BEHIND A GOOD

TEST
Washback Effect
It includes the consequences on teaching and learning prior
assessment itself
It also includes what kind of feedback the learner receives after the
assessment
Students be able to show their ability through abilities practiced in
the class
Authenticity
A good test has meaningful contexts
The language in the test is as natural as possible
Items are contextualized
Tasks represent or approximate real world tasks

Practicality
A good test must go directly to the point
It must be understood easily, easy to hand out, and mark up.
It is not excessively expensive}
It is easy to administrate.
Validity
Students should not have any surprises at the test
The teacher must make sure not to include any type of Exercise of
contents they have not dealt with before Focusing only only on what
you have thought so far
The test measures what it is intended to measure according to the
purpose of assessment

Reliability
A good test is consistent. Its marking should be consistent, coherent
and objective.
For an oral test: create a good and even environment for everybody:
prevent your personal mood or any external factor from interfering
with the task.
Opposite cases: street noise, bad day, high anxiety overly long test,
poorly written test.